1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a tank carrier and manipulator, and, more particularly, to a device for transporting and handling cylindrical tanks of liquified gas and inverting them for dispensing the tank contents as a liquid.
2. Description Of The Related Art
There are a wide variety of tank carriers or trucks for transporting cylinders of compressed gas for use. Typically, the carrier has a platform at ground or floor level onto which the tank is placed. A two-wheeled structure having wheels on either side of the tank location permits tilting of the carrier backwards toward the user by an upwardly projecting handle and for wheeling the tank to a point of use.
Some cylinder carriers provide means for engaging the cylinder as it stands on the ground without the need for manhandling the cylinder onto a platform. For example, if the cylinder is fitted with a hook receiving structure at its top end, the carrier may have hook to engage the structure and then pivot the tank against an upright member without the use of a lower support platform. Another type of known carrier provides, in addition to a two-wheel support, support legs which extend forwardly of the wheels permitting the cart to be moved against the cylinder as it stands on the ground. In this type of structure the cylinder is strapped to the support structure without the use of a supporting platform. Aside from a straight transport function, these carts do not provide other tank manipulating functions.
Where the tanks need to be elevated to a use position such as in the case of tanks of oxygen and acetylene for welding purposes, a jack raising mechanism has been build into the transport cart to permit the tank to be elevated to the platform height and then slid from the cart onto the platform. None of these mechanisms provide a means for inverting the tank so that the contents can be dispensed as a liquid. In the case of chemicals such as acids which are contained in carboys, a stationary tilting mechanism is commonly employed to tip the carboy toward the user to dispense the liquid. Here the carboy still has to be manhandled in placing it in the tipping carrier and other means must be used to transport it to the stationary carrier site.
It is, therefore, a primary objective of this invention to provide a tank carrier and manipulator which can lift a tank standing on the ground to a transport position and for inverting the tank to dispense its contents as a liquid without the need for the user physically lifting or otherwise manually manipulating the tank.
It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus for initially loading a tank in its vertical ground engaging position to a tilted position and locking it in such position so that it may be rotated to an inverted use position and locked in such position.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a wheeled vehicle with a tank carrier and manipulator which also can accomodate an auxiliary pressure vessel for heating the liquified gas dispensed from the tank in its inverted position to deliver the tank contents as a gas from the pressure vessel.